Fishin' and Melons

 So, we had a family reunion this last weekend.  More on this later, but before it started, we went fishing.  Uncle Charlie said we had to get up early, so we did.  Do you see where the sun is?  Yeah, we were ON the boat IN the lake when this was taken.  See part of the boat at the bottom of the picture?  Proof - we were already on the boat.  *yawn*

But it paid off!  I caught a nice sand bass!  YIPPEE! 

I caught another larger one later (not much larger but a bit larger) - but at the same time, Megan and Steve caught one and we were so busy taking fish off, we forgot to get a picture.  

But we did remember to get a picture of Megan's fishy:

It was THIS BIG she says as she holds her hands up as far away from her on either side as she can.  But have no fear, I have proof of how big hers is too!

Another thing Megan caught was some sun.  Lots of sun:

 Her red hair and red face all kinda mix up together, don't they?  Lol...

And of course, Uncle Charlie caught a fish - here he is showing us how big it is!

But when we put them all together, I didn't see either Megan's or Uncle Charlie's 'big catch'.  I am thinking they were pulling our legs - but just in case, I took a picture.  For proof of course.  Do you see the 'big fish'?

 Just lots of nice sized fish for eating, right?

Megan wanted to learn how to clean fish.  Here is Uncle Charlie teaching her:

Well, she finally jumped in and started working on cleaning them:

She was S-L-O-W... so S-L-O-W Uncle Charlie pitched in and helped:

 Hey, has anyone seen Megan?

After all the fun and during the reunion, Steve celebrated his birthday with his second-cousin-once-removed-multiplied-twice-by-two-aunts-and-a-grandpa (or something like that) and his Uncle Charlie.  All 3 celebrated a June birthday:  Steve got to get a year older with family!

And do you remember our garden?  Well, I keep forgetting to tell you about our MELON garden - seperate from our veggie garden.  It is doing GREAT too!

Yesterday we went out to pull weeds - and found MELONS!

Oh, hmmm, I think that was a pumpkin...

And so is this one:

And this one:

HERE is a melon - a black diamond watermelon at that!

And it is just about as big as this Mississippi some kind of watermelon... 

I might have to wait a bit to eat it... but I am a patient person... I love seeing this stuff grow!

We have picked nearly a hundred EACH zucchini and summer squash, over a hundred cucumbers and buckets of green beans and ooodles of other stuff.  Gardening has been so fun for me!

Preserving?  Yeah, I am still trying to figure that one out... 

Louisiana Laughs

At long last - here it is!  The update and part of what I have been up to...

Raelee turned NINE!!  Of course we had to go to Louisiana to share the fun!  A very long trip pulling a camper - in a truck with no air con.  Yeah, hot and sweaty.  Was it worth it?  You bet!


NINE??  How did she get to be 9 years old?  Kids have a way of growing up on you, don't they?

Her cousin's came to celebrate with her as well - here is Nicole and Amanda, with Raelee in the middle:

Oh and Goofy is hanging out in the front of them.

All the cousin's together, at the 'party':

And the most exciting thing about a party in our family - the traditional scavenger hunt!  The birthday kid gets one clue to the big present for every year they are old - this year, punkin' got 9  clues:

The funny thing about it is the guests have as much fun as the birthday kid hunting for clues.  Thankfully most of the time, the birthday kid is the only one that can guess the answers because it is usually leading them to something special that only they know the  answer to... this clue is:  "Store bought clothes are nice, but mom makes them sew much better" - leading her to the sewing machine:

And finally, the clue that led her to the big prize:  "Trees are made into fine gifts here", leading her to her daddy's shop - and the big gift:

She LOVES her new bike!

Punkin' asked for a crawfish boil and strawberry pie for her birthday:

"Hey, miss, can you toss us a crawfish?"

 

Believe me, they got PLENTY!

And with a crawfish boil, you gotta eat the strawberry pie:

Then sleep:

The most special gift of all, was a friend visiting - 34+ years of history between us and such a special unbroken bond.  We had not seen each other in years, and she found out I was coming to Louisiana so she messaged us and said she wanted to come see us!  OH MY GOSH!  What a special treat - Theresa, I love you and thanks for making the trip to MC to be with us - what a treasured visit!

Two words made them smile like this - "Pink Elephant".

Years ago, Steve was known as a 'scholarly' type of guy and very serious.  I told Theresa he wasn't nearly as scary as she thought he was and we needed to figure out how to break the ice.  She came in one day and said, "Red, how do you get a pink elephant off the wall?"  Steve thought a minute and said, "I don't know, Red (she was a red head too), how do you get a pink elephant off the wall?"  Theresa answered, "Well, you jerk him off - of course!"

And that is all I have to to say about that.  The smiles say the rest!

Lots of laughs in Louisiana!